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OSU Study Finds Treadmill Desks Won't Help Employees Drop Pounds

Since recent studies have surfaced about the detriments of sitting all day at a desk, the modern day office has hatched all sorts of ideas to help out employees, like standing desks, telecommuting and treadmill desks. But as it turns out, walking while working is just another fad.

A new study out of Oregon State University found that while treadmill desks can help overweight or obese employees, the increase of activity only has limited results, and in the end, it doesn’t help workers get their daily dose of exercise.

John Schuna, an assistant professor of exercise and sports science at OSU, determined that employees could increase the daily steps by 1,000 with the treadmill desk, but none experienced any significant weight loss or changes in their body mass index during the 12-week experiment.

“Treadmill desks aren’t an effective replacement for regular exercise, and the benefits of the desks may not justify the cost and other challenges that come with implementing them,” said Schuna in a statement.

The experiment included 40 participants with half using treadmill desks. Treadmill desk users walked about 1.8 miles an hour, so that they could still focus on their tasks. Researchers concluded increasing daily steps don’t replace the benefits of moderate to vigorous exercise.